Please Stay
by redheadedsweetheart
Summary: One shot for Ashley13. John and Ashley have been dating for two years. She's beginning to grow tired of his constant traveling and is thinking aboutleaving him. John is on his way home and has a surprise for her. Will she stay long enough to hear him out?


**Please Stay**

**Summary: A one shot requested by Ashley13. John and Ashley have been dating for two years. She's beginning to grow tired of his constant traveling and is contemplating leaving him. John is on his way home and has a surprise for her. Will she stay long enough to find out what the surprise is? Story told in John's POV. This is fiction, I own nothing.**

_**If you ever leave me, baby, Leave some morphine at my door Cause it would take a whole lot of medication To realize what we used to have, We don't have it anymore.**_

I was running late again; Ashley was going to be pissed at me. It wasn't my fault though, I swear! My flight got in on time and then I was getting my bags and getting ready to head out to the parking garage when I got stopped by a group of fans. What was I supposed to do? Just walk away? I can't do that, I've never done that to my fans and I wasn't going to start now.

It took over half an hour to sign autographs and take pictures with this group of fans before I could finally get away. Glancing at my watch as I started my car, I groaned. It was going to take at least half an hour before I got home because of the traffic now. I was going to be over an hour late; she was going to be beyond pissed at me.

I drove like a mad man trying to get home. As I was driving, I thought about what was waiting for me when I got there. Ashley. My beautiful Ashley. We had been together for about two years now and she was a spitfire. She's a shortie with long brown hair and big brown eyes. The thing I love most about her? She has no mouth filter; she tells me like it is, no matter if I want to hear it or not. That's what I love about her—she's honest. When everyone else around me is agreeing with me just to keep me happy, she's tell me what a dick I am or telling me to just suck it up and move forward. She's my rock. And she's probably pissed as hell at me right now.

I've been on the road for almost two weeks straight while she stayed home in Tampa. She usually comes on the road with me, but she couldn't get any time off from work this time. Also, I have a feeling that her mom talked to her into not coming along with me this time. Her parents aren't exactly thrilled that their 21 year old daughter is dating a 33 year old man. We can't help it though; we're drawn to each other.

As I take the exit off the freeway that's gonna take me to our house, a sick feeling of anxiety washes over me. How could I forget? I hope that she's still there when I get home. We had an argument over the phone a couple of days ago that I had pushed out of my mind so I could focus on work. She actually had the balls to accuse me of cheating on her! I would never do that to her; I love her. I mean, seriously love her. Why can't she see that? Replaying the conversation in my head and I pulled onto our street, I remembered how hurt she sounded. She was thoroughly convinced that I was sleeping around with some ring rats while I was traveling. She actually hung up on me too. She never does that. Come to think of it, I hadn't heard from her since that fight.

Shit. Please, please Ashley, be there when I get home, please!

_**There's no religion that could save me No matter how long my knees are on the floor, oh So keep in mind all the sacrifices I'm making Will keep you by my side Will keep you from walking out the door.**_

I pulled into our driveway and sat in the car for a few minutes, debating on whether or not to go inside. I opened the garage door and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her car sitting in the garage. But then I panicked because, what if she just left the car I bought her here and she took off? 'Stop it man,' I said to myself as I unlocked the door and went inside. The door from the garage leads into the kitchen. I felt a little bit better when I saw that the kitchen was clean; she must have done it this morning. I set my bag down and walked through the kitchen and out into the living room. No Ashley here. Maybe she's upstairs. "Ash?" I called up the stairs before I started going up. She didn't reply. Please be here.

_**Cause there'll be no sunlight if I lose you, baby There'll be no clear skies if I lose you, baby Just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same if you walk away Everyday, it will rain, rain, rain**_

I walked down the hallway to our bedroom. The door was closed. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and opened the door. I peeked inside and let out the breath I had been holding in; she was still here. She was lying down on the bed, her eyes closed. I wondered if she was sleeping. I sat down on the edge of the bed and she opened her eyes. "You're late…" she whispered, her brown eyes filling up with tears.

"I know, I'm sorry—" I started to say before she cut me off.

"You're always late, John. You promised that you would be home right after your flight got in. Where were you?" she accused me.

"There were some fans—"

She rolled her eyes. "It's always about the fans, John. What about me?" she said with an attitude. "You know, something, my mom was right about you—"

This time I interrupted her. "Ash, there is no one more important to me than you. But you know as well as I do, that the fans are what keeps me working! And what does your mother have to do with any of this right now?" I was starting to get pissed. I knew her parents didn't like me; they thought I was too old for her, they thought I didn't have the best of intentions with her. They were wrong. I loved this girl.

_**I'll never be your mother's favorite Your daddy can't even look me in the eye Oooh if I was in their shoes, I'd be doing the same thing Saying there goes my little girl walking with that troublesome guy But they're just afraid of something they can't understand Oooh well little darling watch me change their minds**_

"Don't talk about my mom in that tone of voice, John," she warned me. "The more she says it, the more I'm convinced that she's right—"

"What the hell does she keep saying, Ashley? And more importantly, why are you even listening to her?" I interrupted her.

She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip; I knew she was trying hard not to cry right now. This is the look she gets when she's about to burst out bawling. I sat back down on the bed and sat closer to her, thinking about wrapping my arms around her. But before I could get my arms around her, she leaned her head on chest and let her tears slide down her face. "John…..do you love me?" she whispered.

"Of course I do," I answered quickly and I stroked her long hair. "You know that, baby…."

"Then why is this so hard," she whimpered.

"Why is what so hard?"

"Trusting you…." she trailed off.

"Of course you can trust me, Ash," I whispered. "I love you…it's gonna be me and you, remember?"

She wiped the tears from her face and pulled away from me. "I think we should take a break," she said slowly. "I can't keep doing this, John. "

"Ash, no. I don't want to take a break; I don't want to lose you…" I whispered. I knew that I was starting to come off as a desperate man; but that's what I was. Desperate. I couldn't lose her. She was my everything. "Baby, think about what you're saying. You don't want to leave me anymore than I want you to leave me. You need me. I need you…." I trailed off as I reached out for her. She slapped me away.

"It's always the same thing, John. Always the same thing."

"Please don't do this, Ash. We can make it work, I know we can," I pleaded. She couldn't leave me; she just couldn't. She was the one thing that kept me sane in my otherwise insane life.

_**Yea for you I'll try, I'll try, I'll try I'll pick up these broken pieces 'til I'm bleeding If that'll make you mine**_

She sniffed and wiped her tears away. "Make me believe you, John. Please. Make me believe you," she whispered.

I didn't want to do this tonight. I was going to wait for a few more days when the time was right. But if I don't do it now, I'll never know what she would have said. At least if I do it now, and she says no, I'll know for sure.

I got off the bed and started for the door. "I'll be right back," I said quietly as I ran out of the room, down the hallway and down the stairs to where I had left my bags. I quickly unzipped the pocket that held that little black box that I had been carrying around with me for weeks now. She had to say yes. She just had to; I couldn't lose her. I ran back upstairs and let out a groan. She had moved off the bed and was starting to take her clothes out of her dresser and was putting them into her suitcase. "Please don't leave, Ash," I whispered. I walked up behind her, took the shirt she was holding out of her hands and threw it on the bed.

_**Cause there'll be no sunlight if I lose you, baby There'll be no clear skies if I lose you, baby Just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same if you walk away Everyday, it will rain, rain, rain**_

She turned and glared at me. "It's over, John. Over," she repeated as she moved away from me. "I can't trust you." I caught her by her arm and held her in place. I stared into those dark brown eyes that I loved so much. I dropped down to one knee and took the little black box out of my pocket. I watched her eyes grow big and her jaw drop. "What the hell are you doing?" she whispered. "You think this will make everything better, John? Are you insane?" she whispered.

I shook my head. "I'm not doing this because I want you to stay, Ash. I want to do this because I fucking love you…." I trailed off as I opened the little black box and showed her what I was offering. I wasn't just offering her a huge diamond ring that cost me almost entire months' worth of salary; I was offering her me. My heart.

_**Ooooh Don't you say goodbye, don't just say, goodbye I'll pick up these broken pieces 'til I'm bleeding If that'll make it right Cause there'll be no sunlight if I lose you, baby There'll be no clear skies if I lose you, baby Just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same if you walk away Everyday, it will rain,**_

_**rain, rain...**_

"Ashley…Marry me," I whispered. "I promise to do everything I can to make you happy. You wouldn't have to work anymore; you could be with me all the time," I whispered as I tried to hand her the ring. "Then you can see how much I love you…" I was beginning to sound like a sap. A love sick sap.

"I can't believe you…" she murmured. "You want to marry me, after everything I've said to you? I just told you that I want to break up with you, but here you are, on your knees asking me to marry you?" she mumbled. I was beginning to wonder if she was talking to herself.

"Yeah, I'm serious. Believe me. I want to marry you…." I whispered.

She bit her bottom lip; a habit she did when she was nervous. "I don't know….."

"I love you….if you ever left me, I don't know what I would do without you, Ash. You're my rock, my stability. I need you….."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then let it out. I was sure at this point that she was going to slap me in the face, tell me hell no and continue packing. But then the real Ashley that I fell in love with started to shine through. A small smile started to form on her pretty lips. Tears started to run down her face. She took my face in her hands and smiled. "Yes," she whispered so quietly that I could barely hear her. "Yes," she said again as she leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. I closed my eyes and kissed her back gently. She was going to stay….


End file.
